The ACA has provided benefits to millions who don’t want them taken away, and helped to establish the principle that every American has a right to health care, guaranteed by the government. The Affordable Care Act’s core innovations may turn out that way, as well, despite the controversy that has dogged the program from its inception - and the declared intent of the current administration to eliminate it.
Social Security and Medicare are great examples of policies that once seemed radical and now are simply a part of life. They provide benefits that people do not want to lose - and, what’s more, they shift norms of what is right and wrong. These and many other gains of the left have a very important thing in common: They are “sticky.” That’s a term borrowed from economics that means, simply, they will be hard to reverse. Over time, the left has accomplished many things, from building out the social safety net to cleaning up the environment to protecting public health to securing equal rights for women, black people, and gay people. Here are seven reasons optimism beats pessimism every day of the week. But criticism has its limits as a way to inspire social movements. Social criticism has its place: We want to make society a better, fairer place, and pointing out flaws is an important first step. We have made progress in recent years on issues involving basic social and economic justice - progress that seems unlikely to be reversed.īut I also believe that the left should be optimistic because optimism energizes people and wins elections. First, there are trends that ought to hearten liberals - including the society-wide acceptance of same-sex marriage, now entrenched in the law by the Supreme Court, and the resistance to cutting new parts of the social safety net (including, so far, the main elements of the Affordable Care Act). The future is brighter - much brighter - than they think. His brand of xenophobia and authoritarianism is on the ascent the future looks bleak both for the country and a world torn by rising populism and threatened by climate change.īut despite recent setbacks, there are many excellent reasons for the left to be optimistic. With Trump in the White House, and the Republicans in control of Congress and most states, surely little of the progressive agenda will remain in a few years. Many shuffle about their daily tasks suffused in gloom and pessimism. It was not even supposed to be possible for it to happen. The election of Donald Trump was a major shock to the left.
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